Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
‘Z Is for Zombie: An Illustrated Guide to the End of the World’ by Adam-Troy Castro, Johnny Atomic was an impulsive pick. I picked up a copy at a book cafe in Krakow on December 30, 2026, making it one of my final reads of the year.
It’s an interesting, mildly comedic book divided into several short chapters, each structured around a letter of the alphabet. The opening chapter is titled “A Is for Apocalypse,” followed by “B Is for Burial,” and so on. The funniest entry comes with O: “O Is for Omigod Omigod Oh Jesus Get it off me Get it off get it… Aaaarrrgghhhh.” That definitely cracked me up a bit.
Essentially, ‘Z Is for Zombie’ imagines the reader as someone who exists in a world overrun by decaying zombies. Author Adam-Troy Castro frames each chapter as a tongue-in-cheek survival guide for navigating the apocalypse.
From vividly imagining what it’s like to be chased by relentless hordes to sketching out the kinds of characters one might encounter at the end of the world, the book reads like a playful manual for surviving the undead.
The accompanying black-and-white illustrations, however, are less impactful than expected for a book steeped in blood, guts, and death. ‘Z Is for Zombie’ isn’t a comic book, its format places illustrations on the left-hand pages and text-heavy passages on the right. Unfortunately, the artwork feels restrained and largely unmemorable, lacking the energy, expressiveness, or visual chaos one might hope for. A more animated style, or even the use of colour, could have elevated the experience significantly.
Rating: 3 on 5 stars.
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